The Tale of The Vampire Book Keeper!
by Valdiviels0
Summary: How a Dwarf Fortress decided to deal with a blood sucking member of society! (Based on TRUE events happening in my DF game)


The Tale of the Vampire Book Keeper!

The Fortress of Dedukvutok Deduk Akim was founded with the idea that those who ruled would know true power. The power to control those below them. A class system was needed. One that would allow a few to live in wealth and luxury. So a three tier society was made.

The Surface Dwellers, those who toiled with the soil, handled animals, and crafted wood would be the lower class. They were forced to live outside, in huts and lean tos, working in open air workshops. A small diner was made for them, packed with tables and chairs, on a dirt floor. A few lucky ones would live inside, their beds in the pig pens, as the construction of the outside buildings were never fast enough to house their growing numbers.

The Stone Class, those who worked with ores, metals, stone, and gems, lived a few levels down. They had their smoothed out one room apartments, with a bed and cabinet. They even had tables assigned to them in the dining areas. Sadly there was never enough tables and chairs for them as the peasants never seemed to work fast enough to fulfill the job orders. Their work areas were all inside and they were even allowed to have their spouses live with them. Sometimes they had to go outside to work on a building or wall. And a few enjoying fishing. But most of the time they enjoyed a nice sun free lifestyle.

The Nobles, mostly made up of Administers at first, have three room apartments. Their walls and floors were engraved, their needs met as quickly as could be. Deep down they lived inside the Fortress, away from the crowds and noise of the workshops.

A hospital was soon dug out and a barracks, with a squad of soldiers called the Stone Cutters. A inside well was designed after the first winter. Slowly mines reached down into the earth like spider webs, slowly expending, growing, searching for wealth. A protective wall was started, a jail dug out, and the Sheriff was soon Captain of the Guard. A Mayor was soon elected but everybody knew he was nothing but a puppet of the Nobles.

Life moved along. The Fortress grew rich on tourists mugs and well designed mechanisms. Wood, seeds, booze was imported, with some weapons and metal bars. There was plenty of trees available but the workers never seemed to have enough time to cut them down. Funny enough this seemed to please the Elves. Prey was hunted, fish were reeled in, and fields were harvested. The stockpiles groaned with the food and drinks produced daily.

The Surface Dwellers learned to live in the harsh sunlight, frequent rain fall, and snow storms that hit during the winter. The Stone Class enjoyed their work, their nice bedrooms, and good living standards. The Nobles...well, they did whatever Nobles did with paperwork. Everybody was well fed, the still was able to keep up demand much of the time, and the traders were always welcome. The immigrate waves grew bigger with each year and the population grew.

A few people went insane, driven by strange moods, but that's normal for Dwarfs. But after the second peasant was found dead, blood drained from the body, people started to suggest that there may be a vampire among the populace. True, the two victims were just Surface Dwellers but the Nobles decided they had to do something about it. It was bad for public relations and if too many of the lower class were killed who would cook, clean, and be told what to do?

Records were examined, backgrounds were checked, people were questioned. Soon it was found that a hunter, using the false name of Athel Isonlitast, was the vampire!

Now that he had been found what would they do with him? The Nobles were on the spot. They were to become a Barony very soon (in fact they had already passed on the name of suggested candidate to the Mountainhomes) and felt any black mark on the Fortress's reputation would throw a wench into the works. What to do? What to do? Kill him? Recruit him as a soldier and allow him to eat peasants when he needed to?

Than they came up with a brilliant idea! They swiftly recruited the vampire, had him position himself in the book keeper's apartment, who they fired, and walled him in. The vampire, not the now ex-book keeper. Than they made the vampire the NEW book keeper! A never resting, never eating employee! True, one day, when his cloths all rotted away, he would very likely go insane. But that was nit-picking.

They would also have to shout to communicate with him but it was felt by all to be the best solution. A vampire book keeper! Think of the tourism! The public relations! Dwarfs For the Ethical Treatment of Monsters would give their Fortress Five Stars!

And everybody was happy! Well, not the Surface Dwellers who still worked in muddy fields, lived in huts with up to eight other Dwarfs, and had a small diner in which you had to climb over others just to get to one of the four chairs. But the Stone Class and the Noble Class were happy and, you know, they're the only ones who truly count! Even the ex-book keeper went back to being a Miner and, therefore, a good standard of living.

So now the vampire works at his desk, his fingers stained with ink and not blood. And on the surface above the peasants grumble about how they can now say, without fear of contradiction, that one of their bosses IS a blood sucker!

The End.


End file.
